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Victor, Jeffrey S. Moral panics and the social construction of deviant behavior: a
theory and application to the case of ritual child abuse. Sociological Perspectives v41,
n3 (Fall, 1998):541 (25 pages).
COPYRIGHT 1998 Pacific Sociological Association
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The past offers numerous examples of collective behavior during which widespread,
fearful rumors and accusations about dangerous deviants resulted in false accusations of
crime against many innocent people. Various terms have been used to label this form of
collective behavior: persecution, witch-hunt, scare, and panic. In some cases, the widely
feared deviants are products of ethnic, racial or religious stereotypes. The most familiar
example is that of anti-Semitic persecutions, including the Nazi program of genocide. In
other cases, the invented deviants are creations of pure imagination. The classic example
is the European witch-hunt, during which perhaps over one hundred thousand people
were executed, because they were believed to posses evil magical powers (Ben-Yehuda
1981; Levack 1987). In still other cases, the deviants are stereotypes of members of
groups that are widely believed to be a political threat in a society. An example is the
anti-Communist 'Red Scare' in the U.S of the 1950s, during which many thousands of
Americans were labeled as subversives and lost their jobs (Caute 1978).
In this article, I suggest a rationale for classifying all these forms of collective behavior
together as moral panics. The objective of the article is to develop a theory of the causes
and transmission of moral panics. The article first presents criteria for identifying moral
panics. Secondly, the article presents models for analyzing the social conditions that
cause moral panics and lead to the social construction of definitions of deviance. Finally,
the article offers principles for understanding the international transmission of moral
panics. In order to illustrate the theoretical analysis, the article presents information about
the recent moral panic involving criminal accusations of ritual child abuse by secret,
satanic cults.
PART I: THE CHARACTERISTICS OF MORAL PANICS
In simplification, a moral panic is a societal response to beliefs about a threat from moral
deviants(1). The term "moral panic" was coined by British sociologist Stanley Cohen in
his book, Folk Devils and Moral Panics: The Creation of Mods and Rockers, a study of
British public reaction to the deviant behavior of the "mods" and "rockers" youth. Cohen
used the term to identify a form of collective behavior characterized by widely circulating
rumor stories disseminated by the mass media, which exaggerated the threat posed by
some newly identified type of moral deviants (Cohen 1972). Cohen defined a moral panic
as a form of collective behavior during which:
A condition, episode, person or group emerges to become defined as a threat to societal
values and interests; its nature is presented in a stylized and stereotypical fashion by the
mass media; the moral barricades are manned by editors, bishops, politicians and other
right thinking people; socially accredited experts pronounce their diagnosis and solutions;
ways of coping are evolved or (more often) resorted to; the condition then disappears,
submerges or deteriorates and becomes visible (Cohen 1972: 9).
Cohen employed a societal reaction/labeling perspective on deviance, which was an early
antecedent of current social constructionism.
The concept of a moral panic has been widely used by British sociologists. However,
American sociologists have regarded it as suffering from a lack of precise indicators and
made little use of it until recently. In an attempt to make the concept less ambiguous,
Goode and Ben-Yehuda have suggested the following five specific indicators of a moral
panic (summarized from Goode and Ben-Yehuda 1994:33-39).
1. Volatility - The sudden eruption and subsiding of concern about a newly perceived
threat to society from a category of people regarded as being moral deviants.
2. Hostility - The deviants are regarded with intense hostility as enemies of the basic
values of the society and attributed stereotypes of 'evil' behavior.
3. Measurable Concern - Concern about the threat is measurable in concrete ways, such
as attitude surveys.
4. Consensus - There is consensus in significant segments of the population that the threat
is real and serious.
5. Disproportionality - Concern about the numbers of moral deviants and the extent of the
harm that they do is much greater than can be verified by objective, empirical
investigations of the harm. Even though the measurable concern is great, the numbers of
deviants are minimal or even non-existent and their harm is very limited or even nonexistent.
In brief, a moral panic is a form of collective behavior characterized by suddenly
increased concern and hostility in a significant segment of a society, in reaction to
widespread beliefs about a newly perceived threat from moral deviants. Careful,
empirical examination at a later time, however, reveals that the perceived threat was
greatly exaggerated or nonexistent. A moral panic often gives rise to social movements
aimed at eliminating the threatening deviants and may generate moral crusades and
political struggles over use of the law to suppress the dangerous deviants. Local rumorpanics, riots and ethnic programs may occur in reaction to belief in the threat. However,
such dramatic behavior is not an essential element of the collective behavior. Belief, not
emotion, is the motivational dimension of a moral panic. The essence of a moral panic is
that significant segments of a society are reacting to a socially constructed threat from
moral deviants. The main observable behavior during a moral panic is the communication
of claims, accusations and rumors.
The Study of Rumors and Claims about Moral Deviants
A contemporary (or urban) legend is the type of rumor that is most commonly part of a
moral panic. Contemporary legends are varieties of persistent rumor stories, transmitted
primarily in oral communication, and secondarily through the mass media. The stories
communicate shared anxieties about a newly perceived threat. The stories also
communicate a moral-political message conveyed in the form of age-old recurring motifs
and metaphors (Victor 1993b). Contemporary legends are told as if stories are true, just
as ordinary rumors, and widely believed as if the stories are likely to be true. However,
unlike ordinary rumors, the stories are more persistent, and less relevant to specific,
localized people and events.
A contemporary legend is a process of collective behavior which consists primarily of the
collaborative creation and communication of rumor stories in ever changing variations
(Ellis 1990). It is not a fixed and unchanging narrative. It is always emergent out of
interaction and never finished. The story is constantly being reshaped, as people add
parts, forget parts and distort parts. Contemporary legends are often regarded as being
merely amusing tales having little social consequence, like those about poisonous spiders
found in bunches of bananas or fried rats served as chicken. However, some
contemporary legends can have harmful consequences, such as false accusations of
crime, the destruction of reputations and property, riots and even killings. Examples of
harmful contemporary legends include those that promote racist and anti-Semitic hatred.
Exaggerated claims-making about deviants is a central phenomenon during moral panics.
Therefore, an analysis of the claims-making process is the focus of a social
constructionist study of deviant behavior. The content of claims about deviance include
matters such as: stereotypes of deviants and their behavior, typologies of variations
among deviants, descriptions of the dangers and particular harms caused by deviants and
rationales for dealing with deviants. The basic premise of social constructionism is that
deviance is a socially constructed meaning. These claims construct the definitions
(symbolic meanings) attributed to deviance. Therefore, social constructionist research
and analysis focus upon the claims-makers, rather than the behavior and people defined
as deviant; the rhetoric and propaganda of the claims-makers, their vested interests, their
authority and power in a society (Best 1989; Conrad and Schneider 1992).(2)
The claims made about satanic ritual abuse (hereafter abbreviated as SRA) have been
studied by Hicks (1991), Jenkins (1992), Nathan and Snedeker (1995), and Victor
(1993a, 1994, 1995, 1996). Most claims assert that there exist secret, criminal
organizations, which commit horrible crimes against children, motivated by worship of
Satan. Some claims assert the existence of an international conspiratorial network. Less
extreme versions assert that the secret networks consist only of intergenerational family
clans. Ritual torture and sexual abuse of children is done supposedly to "program"
children to reverse good and evil. The purported aim is to "brainwash" children into the
ideology of Satan worship. In their Satan-worshipping rituals, these criminals supposedly
sometimes kill and sacrifice infants born to impregnated "breeders" and commit
cannibalism with the body parts. Some claims-makers even assert that satanic cults
kidnap runaway youth for ritual sacrifice, commit random murders of indigent people,
and engage in the criminal businesses of child pornography, forced prostitution and drug
dealing. These criminals are able to maintain their secrecy and avoid detection, according
to the claims-makers, because satanists have infiltrated all the institutions of society.
The main evidence to support these claims consists primarily of accusations made by
hundreds of adult psychotherapy patients who report decades-old memories of ritual
torture and sexual abuse by their parents, and similar accusations made by children
against their parents or child care workers. The authorities making these claims include
some psychotherapists, social workers, local law enforcement officials, fundamentalist
clergy, and members of anti-cult organizations.
The Moral Panic Over Satanic Ritual Child Abuse
There is no research on the precise number of people who have made accusations of SRA
against their parents, or childcare workers and others in the United States, and there is no
precise count of the number of criminal prosecutions. However, a random sample
national survey of 2,272 clinical psychologists who are members of the American
Psychological Association found almost 3,000 cases reported by the 802
psychotherapists, who said that they had seen at least one case of SRA. These
psychotherapists reported seeing 1,228 cases of adults who they defined as victims of
SRA and 1,500 cases of children who they defined as victims of SRA (Bottoms, Shaver,
and Goodman 1996). The numbers of SRA cases are likely much higher, considering that
many thousands of psychotherapists are psychiatrists, clinical social workers and diverse
kinds of counselors.
Some SRA accusations have been taken to the criminal courts. A national survey of a
sample of 706 district attorneys, 1,037 social service workers and 2,912 law enforcement
agencies found that 302 respondents had encountered at least one SRA case (Goodman,
Qin, Bottoms, and Shaver, 1995). A legal survey done by the False Memory Syndrome
Foundation of criminal cases involving allegations of child sexual abuse made by adults
based upon purported recovered memories offers more useful data, at least about
accusations made by adults against their parents. A legal survey of 78 criminal cases
done in September, 1996, found that in the United States from 1989 through early 1996,
47 cases (60%) involved adult allegations of ritual abuse (FMSF, personal
communication, 9/96). By the early 1990s, many adult former psychotherapy patients had
retracted their memories of SRA and filed malpractice lawsuits against their former
therapists and hospitals. Another legal survey done by the False Memory Syndrome
Foundation conducted on 59 civil lawsuits between 1991 and 1997 found 34 cases (57%)
involved purported memories of SRA (FMSF Legal Survey 1998).
The rapid rise and decline of SRA accusations gives evidence to the volatility of a moral
panic. Claims about ritual child abuse by satanic cults began to appear rather suddenly.
The oldest known satanic cult "survivor" account was published in 1980 in the book,
Michelle Remembers (Smith and Pazder 1980). SRA testimonials, accusations and
rumors spread rapidly thereafter in the United States during the early 1980s and then
declined rapidly during the early 1990s.
There is evidence of widespread concern and hostility in response to SRA accusations. It
can be found in satanic cult crime accounts in the mass media: in popular books and
magazine articles, in small-town newspaper articles, and on television talk shows (Hicks
1991; Victor 1993a). Evidence can also be found in records from SRA professional
training seminars for psychotherapists and social workers offered at professional
conferences, and in continuing education programs at colleges (Mulhern 1991, 1994;
Nathan and Snedeker 1995). Further evidence can be found in the hundreds of
accusations of SRA against parents and childcare workers, many of which have led to
civil and criminal trials.
There is evidence that SRA accusations were regarded as being "real and serious" by
sizable segments of the American population. A 1994 national survey reported in
Redbook magazine, for example, found that 70 percent of Americans "believe that at
least some people who claim that they were abused by satanic cults as children, but
repressed the memories for years, are telling the truth" (Ross 1994:88). Further evidence
of widespread belief in the existence of the SRA comes from a 1989 Texas statewide
telephone poll which found that 80% of the respondents believed that Satanism is an
increasing problem in American society (reported in Crouch and Damphousse 1992). In
addition, survey research has found that a sizable percentage of American and British
psychotherapists, social workers and counselors believe SRA accounts, in part or whole,
as accurate accounts of satanic cult crime; or at least attribute credibility to them
(Andrews, Morton, Bekerian, Brewin, Davies, and Mollon 1995; Bottoms, Shaver, and
Goodman 1996; Poole, Lindsay, Memon, and Bull 1995). This research means that
thousands of professionals who claim authority in understanding human behavior believe
that there exists a real threat from satanic cult child abusers.
Finally, there is evidence that the societal reaction to the claims was disproportionate to
the threat posed by SRA. So far, no law enforcement agency or research study has found
the kind of physical evidence needed to support accounts of SRA. No one has turned up
written or electronic communications, bank account records, meetings in process,
members who can identify leaders, or any of the vast number of bodies of people
supposed murdered by satanic cults. Official government reports from several countries
could find no such evidence to support claims about SRA. These reports include those
from the Department of Health of the United Kingdom (La Fontaine 1994); from the
Netherlands Ministry of Justice (1994); from the Behavioral Science Unit of the FBI
(Lanning 1992); and state agencies in Michigan (Michigan State Police 1990), Virginia
(Virginia State Crime Commission Task Force 1991), and Washington (Parr 1996). In
addition, a national survey of psychotherapists could not find a single SRA accusation
reported by the psychotherapists, where there was reliable evidence to corroborate SRA
accusations from either children or adults (Bottoms, Shaver, and Goodman 1996). In the
reports of psychotherapists about their patients' SRA accusations, there is no convincing
external corroborating evidence for the existence of satanic cult criminals, in either
organizations or intergenerational family clans.
The only social phenomena that exists which bares any resemblance to SRA claims are
teenage delinquents and mentally disordered killers who tall themselves "satanists".
However, these deviants do not constitute an organization, a criminal network or a
religious cult. Therefore, in the absence of any scientific evidence to confirm the
existence of organized groups that torture and sexually abuse children in satanic rituals, it
is reasonable to suggest that the societal reaction to SRA claims has been excessive.
PART II: THE CAUSES OF MORAL PANICS
Theoretical Models of Moral Panics
Goode and Ben-Yehuda (1994) offer three theoretical models for analyzing the causes of
moral panics: 1) the grass roots model, 2) the elite-engineered model and 3) the interest
group model. These models can be used to understand different types of moral panics.
The Grass Roots Model - suggests that a moral panic arises spontaneously across a broad
spectrum of a society's population. The concern and anger about the threat from
perceived moral deviants is a response to persistent and widespread social stresses.
Anxieties arising from these social stresses are not able to gain direct expression. Instead,
the anxieties are displaced and directed toward social deviants, who become regarded as
the cause of concern. Newly detected deviants essentially function as collective
scapegoats for the anxieties transferred to them (Victor 1992). The targeted deviants are
perceived through cultural symbols, which reflect the real, underlying social stresses.
The actions of special interest groups are not necessary to promote moral outrage directed
at the newly perceived dangerous deviants. The mass media and social control authorities
basically reflect public opinion about the reality of the threat. The key argument of the
grass roots model is that these agencies cannot fabricate public concern where none
previously existed. However, particular triggering events, or catalysts, may provoke
sudden outbreaks of the moral outrage. The role of a contemporary legend in the grass
roots model of a moral panic is its function as a catalyst for a sudden outbreak of
collective behavior, such as in an aggressive mob.
An example of a grass roots moral panic occurred in France in 1968, when widespread
rumors in several cities accused Jewish clothing store owners of kidnapping teenage girls
in their stores and selling them into forced prostitution, controlled by international
criminal syndicates (Morin 1971). Mobs attacked Jewish-owned clothing stores. The
contemporary legend story was based on centuries-old ethnic stereotypes and folklore
about Jews as kidnappers of Christian children (Hsia 1988; Langmuir 1990). A similar
grass-roots moral panic resulted in a series of over sixty local and regional rumor-panics
across the United States from 1983 through 1993, in response to a contemporary legend
about secret, criminal satanic cults which supposedly kidnapped blond, blue-eyed virgins,
for use in ritual sacrifice (Victor 1989; 1991; 1993a). Another example is the moral panic
involving contemporary legend stories about sadists who purportedly give children
poisoned or dangerous treats for Halloween trick-or-treat, which sometimes lead to local
scares about Halloween sadists (Best and Horiucht 1985).
The Elite-Engineered Model - suggests that a powerful elite can orchestrate a moral
panic. The elite uses the major institutions of a society to promote a campaign to generate
and sustain public moral outrage about a threat from a target category of deviants. The
actual intention of the campaign is to divert attention away from real problems in a
society, the solution of which would threaten the economic and political interests of the
elite. The elite fabricates a description of the threat and uses the institutions of society,
including the mass media, religion, and law enforcement, to shape public opinion. The
threat from supposed dangerous deviants is invented, or at least exaggerated, by the elite,
to serve its own vested interests. A contemporary legend can be employed by a powerful
elite to influence public opinion about a fictitious threat, in order to divert attention from
social problems.
In Medieval times, the hierarchy of the Catholic Church organized moral panics and
persecutions directed at the Cathar heretics and later the Knights Templars. Another
example of an elite-engineered moral panic occurred after Czarist agents used the Jewish
conspiracy legend to arouse moral outrage against the Jews, as a means of diverting
attention and anger away from the problem of widespread poverty in Russia. The moral
panic lead to organized mob attacks and massacres of Jewish villagers. Other moral
panics orchestrated by an elite which led to ethnic mass murder, include the murder of
about a million Chinese Indonesians in 1965 organized by the Muslim-led army, and the
mass murder of hundreds of thousands of Tutsi citizens in Rwanda in 1994 organized by
Hutu leaders. The Stalinist purges and persecution of millions of fabricated internal
enemies of the Soviet Union is another example. An example of this type of moral panic
in American society is that of 1950s anti-Communist witch-hunt in American society.
This moral panic has been interpreted (albeit a controversial interpretation) as having
been deliberately orchestrated by the American corporate and political elite, as a way of
destroying socialist and union organizing (Gibson 1988; Irons 1974).
The Interest Group Model - suggests that moral panics are an unintended consequence of
moral crusades launched by specific interest groups and their activists, who attempt to
focus public attention on moral evils that they perceive to be threats to society. In modern
times, many interest groups direct their efforts toward presenting their concerns in the
mass media in order to influence public opinion. Interest groups and their moral
entrepreneurs usually sincerely believe that their efforts serve a moral cause beneficial to
the whole society. Nevertheless, their efforts also function to advance their own group's
social influence, prestige, wealth and ideological goals. As these interest groups become
increasingly successful in influencing public opinion, they stimulate resistance and
conflict from competing interest groups. The interest group model suggests that a moral
threat expressed in a pre-existing contemporary legend story may be consistent with the
moral concerns of certain interest groups and can be employed by them as an instrument
to influence public opinion. The contemporary legend may also serve to enhance an
interest group's credibility and authority in some special area of moral concern.
An example of a moral panic prompted by interest groups is the "white slavery" scare,
which occurred in the U.S from 1907 to 1914. The white slavery scare was a product of a
moral crusade against prostitution promoted by fundamentalist Protestants and the
women's Suffragette movement. During this scare, the mass media aroused public
opinion by publishing many stories claiming that organized criminal syndicates
kidnapped young women and forced them into prostitution. Hundreds of unmarried,
cohabiting young men, as well as adulterous lovers were accused of engaging in white
slavery; some of whom were arrested and imprisoned (Langum 1994).
Another example of a moral panic sparked by interest groups is the "baby parts" scare
that occurred in several Latin America countries. A contemporary legend claims that poor
children are being kidnapped and butchered for use of their body parts by wealthy North
Americans in transplant surgery. Communists and other leftists in Latin America used the
baby parts contemporary legend to attack American capitalism and to benefit their
political and ideological goals (Campion-Vincent 1990, 1997). The rumors have resulted
in physical attacks on Americans. As recently as 1994, two American women in
Guatemala were attacked by mobs, which believed that the women were searching for
children to kidnap (Johnson 1994; Lopez 1994).
Another example of a moral panic prompted by interest groups was the "stranger-danger"
during the 1980s. Best (1990) showed how contemporary legend stories about crimes
against children including, kidnapping, child murder, child pornography, arose from to
exaggerated claims made by child-protection organizations. A series of similar moral
panics arose in Great Britain at about the same time, that linked concerns about serial sex
murders, homosexual pedophile rings, sexual child abuse and satanic ritual abuse. Jenkins
(1992) showed how these moral panics were caused by exaggerated claims about threats
to children made by several interest groups including, child protection organizations,
Protestant fundamentalists, and feminist groups.
False Accusations and the Social Construction of Imaginary Deviants
How is it possible that a moral panic could be caused by widespread accusations of
crime, lacking in evidence that the criminals even exist? The key insight is that
accusations of crime are a claims-making activity. False accusations can construct
imaginary deviants, when social control authorities systematically legitimize the
accusations.
Criminologist Elliott Currie has shown how even when deviant acts are purely imaginary,
as is the case of witchcraft, people can always be found and fitted into the stereotype of
the deviants. Currie's (1968) study of the European witch-hunts suggests that a particular
combination of four circumstances caused false accusations of witchcraft to be affirmed
by authorities as evidence of that some people were witches. First, there was widespread
belief in and fear of secret, conspiratorial witches who supposedly practiced black magic
to harm people. Second, in response, there gradually evolved a new occupation of experts
specialized in detecting witches, the witch-finders. Third, the witch-finders used
ambiguous tests (spectral evidence) to detect witches, so that people accused were almost
automatically found guilty. This confirmed their expertise and enhanced the authority of
the witch-finders. Fourth, the ideology of traditional Christian religion concerning Satan's
corrupting influence fueled the Inquisition's search for any kind of potential heretic.
False accusations are a necessary part of a moral panic. In order for a moral panic to take
hold among a large number of people, it is necessary for some people to be publicly
identified with the perceived threat, even if the deviance of which they are accused is
purely imaginary. It is necessary for a group that feels threatened to find visible
scapegoats. Klemke and Tiedeman (1990) studied a wide variety of false accusations of
crimes and false labeling of persons as deviants, in order to determine the kinds of social
conditions that increase the prevalence of false accusations. They found that three social
conditions tend to be associated with increases in false accusations. One, there exists a
widespread belief in a society that a threat exists from new kinds of deviants. Two, there
is competition between newer and more traditional agencies and authorities of social
control over jurisdictions of authority. The newer authorities attempt to expand and
justify their authority. Three, the investigation of the newly perceived deviance relies on
diagnostic instruments and tests, which are oversimplified and ambiguous; and therefore,
easily make errors in identifying deviants. I want to suggest a fourth social condition that
produces false accusations drawn from my research (Victor 1993a). It is one that results
in a distinctly moralistic perception of the deviance: symbolic resonance of the perceived
threat with a demonology (to be explained shortly).
THE CAUSES OF MORAL PANICS: THE CASE OF RITUAL CHILD ABUSE
The following interpretation of the causes of the moral panic over satanic ritual abuse is
offered as a case study illustration of social dynamics of the interest group model of
moral panics. It also illustrates how false accusations of deviance during moral panics can
construct purely imaginary deviants.
Widespread Belief in a Threat from New Forms of Deviance
Belief in a potential threat from moral deviants must spread widely in a society, before a
moral panic can get started. How did belief in a threat from secret satanic cults spread
widely in American society? Most past studies of moral panics assume that belief in a
new threat from moral deviants is largely a product of mass media sensationalism
(McRobbie and Thornton 1995). However, this was not the case in the satanic cult scare.
Instead, the mass media basically disseminated the claims of authorities presented as
being so-called experts in detecting satanic cult crime.
Crouch and Damphousse (1992) carried out a content analysis of satanic cult scare stories
in eight major city newspapers in the U.S. They concluded that the newspapers provided
a forum for purported experts who claimed to be able to identify the symptoms of satanic
cult crime (local police, clergy, and psychotherapists). However, the newspapers did not
deliberately try to inflame rumors about these crimes. In my own research, I came to a
similar conclusion about the role of the mass media. The moral panic involving SRA
spread widely only after some segments of the mass media popularized the claims of
authorities who lent credibility to rumors and accusations about satanic cult crime (Victor
1993a:253-255). Specifically, claims-making from the so-called experts was rare in large
city newspapers and largely absent on national television news. In contrast, claimsmaking by these experts about satanic cult crime was common on national television
talkshows, in small-town newspapers, and in Christian religious books.
Timing is also crucial to the emergence of a moral panic. The moral panic involving SRA
began at a time, in the early 1980s, when several similar moral panics involving the motif
of violent victimization of children had emerged. There was already widespread belief
that child sexual abuse was much more common than had previously been thought
(Howitt 1992). In the early 1980s, there was already moral panic over crimes against
children, involving claims that thousands of children were being kidnapped, sexually
assaulted and murdered (Best 1990). As a result, the general public was more receptive to
the authorities that lent credibility to SRA stories, than had the timing been different.
The Expansion of Authority in Social Control
Authority plays a key role in defining forms of deviant behavior. Authority also provides
legitimacy for claims about new threats to society. Established institutional authorities do
not easily regard new claims about threats to society as being credible. However, when
new forms of authority begin to develop and to compete for power over a jurisdiction
with previously established authorities, the newer authorities may be tempted to use a
newly perceived threat to expand their power. In such conditions, the newer authorities
are likely to over-reach their expertise and attribute credibility to false accusations of
victimization by a newly discovered threat. I believe that this is the key factor that led to
the legitimization of SPA accusations.
Some sociologists who specialize in the study of deviant behavior believe that the most
important contemporary social change affecting authority to define the meanings of
deviance is the process of the medicalization of social control (Conrad 1992; Conrad and
Schneider 1992). In the twentieth century, the social authority to define and interpret
deviant behavior has gradually shifted from religious and political authorities, to medical
and mental health authorities. Medical and mental health authorities commonly view
deviant behavior through the lens of the medical model as being a form of sickness rather
than as sin or crime. Increasingly, lawmakers, courts and the general public call upon
medical and mental health authorities to function as social control authorities. When
these authorities offer judgements about psychological health and illness, they make
implicit judgements about good and evil. (The concept of sickness as a departure from
biological homeostasis is relatively value-free. However, it is difficult to escape moral
judgements implicit in any concept of "abnormality", when applied to human behavior.)
A good example is how homosexual behavior was first defined by religious authorities as
a sin, and then redefined by medical authorities (psychiatrists) as a psychological
sickness. More recently, in 1973, homosexual behavior was again redefined by
psychiatrists under political pressure, and normalized as an expression of a genderorientation (Bayer 1987). Medical and mental health authorities still commonly interpret
the nature of deviant alcohol and drug use, as being forms of mental illnesses (Johnson
and Waltezko 1992; Roman 1988).
One consequence of the medicalization of social control is that medical and mental health
authorities have been drawn, however reluctantly, into the arenas of politics, lawmaking,
and legal judgements. Other authorities, such as legislators, police, judges, and juries,
increasingly rely upon their "expertise". The medicalization of social control is a product
of American society's confidence in medical techniques to manage life's problems. It is
not the result of any deliberate planning on the part of medical and mental health
authorities. The metaphor of deviance as sickness now has such a powerful influence in
American popular culture that rapists, serial murderers, child molesters, habitual
gamblers, excessive dieters, people who commit suicide, and even members of
unconventional religious "cults" are commonly portrayed as "sick" people in mass media
entertainment. As a consequence, allegations of psychological abnormality often replace
allegations of immorality in everyday discourse.
Pfohl (1977) provides an excellent social constructionist analysis of the political
developments leading to the redefinition of violent physical aggression by parents against
children from a crime, to a public health concern relabeled "child abuse" (see also Howitt
1992). Indications of severe physical trauma in a child, in cases of a suspected crime
were initially redefined as "symptoms" of the battered child "syndrome". Thereafter,
medical and mental health experts, rather than police, became the authorities relied upon
to define the indicators of criminal behavior. Parents suspected of "child abuse" were
redefined as possibly "sick" personalities and treated as "patients", rather than being
treated as suspects of crime, and therefore, fully protected by civil liberties laws. Medical
and mental health authorities were inevitably drawn, however reluctantly, into legal
judgements of parents suspected of engaging in child abuse. Some of them lobbied
government for new laws and more funds to deal with what they claimed was the
discovery of the new and widespread public health problem of "child abuse". The mass
media sensationalized reports about a newly discovered epidemic of "child abuse", even
though there was no scientific evidence that violent physical assaults against children had
increased over past decades.
We can understand the social construction the of concept of ritual child abuse as similarly
a product of the medicalization of social control. The concept is an extension of
sensationalized concern about an epidemic of child abuse, and later sexual child abuse.
Initially, some mental health specialists who claimed to have developed new medical
techniques capable of detecting illegal sexual contact between adults and children
("sexual child abuse") believed that their clients' accounts of sexual victimization by
secret satanic cults might be true. These mental health professionals included some
psychotherapists specialized in the treatment of mental disorders characterized by
dissociated memory processes. They claimed that these disorders were caused primarily
by sexual activity forced upon a child by an adult. (Mulhern 1991, 1994, provides a
detailed history of the roles of these mental health professionals in the social construction
of SRA.) These mental health professionals also included some child protection social
workers specialized in the detection and treatment of sexually victimized children.
(Nathan and Snedeker 1995, provide a detailed study of the history of the role of these
mental health professionals in the social construction of SRA.)
Psychotherapists specialized in the treatment of dissociative disorders and social workers
specialized in the treatment of sexually victimized children were drawn into collaboration
with each other. They shared a similar focus of professional interest in sexual child abuse
and they also shared a similar social situation. These specialists were both struggling to
gain greater recognition and respect within their larger community of professionals. If
this important discovery could be confirmed in the courts of law and science, these
specialists would obtain well-deserved recognition and respect for their newly developing
expertise.
These interest groups attempted to publicize their "discovery" of SRA, by communicating
them to other professional specialists, and also to the general public. In doing so, they
influenced professional and public opinion about claims concerning satanic cult crimes
against children. At first, these specialists organized professional training seminars
focusing on the their techniques for detecting ritual child abuse. Their audiences included
diverse types of other therapists; but also self-proclaimed victims, and interested nontherapists, such as police, clergy, nurses, and medical doctors (Mulhern 1991; 1994;
Victor 1993a). Some of these therapists communicated their "discovery" of SRA, by
publishing articles in specialized professional journals and in popular culture books.
(Examples can be found in: Cozolino 1989; 1990; Feldman 1993; Fewster 1990; Friesen
1991; Gould and Cozolino 1992; Hill and Goodwin 1989; Hudson 1991; Kelley 1988;
1989; Mayer 1991; Noblitt and Perskin 1995; Ross 1995; Ryder 1992; Shaffer and
Cozolino 1992; Sakheim and Devine 1992; Smith 1993; Smith and Pazder, 1980; Young,
Sachs, Braun, and Watkins 1991).
The "discovery" of the ritual sexual abuse of children by secret satanic cults thrust these
marginal specialists into the spotlight of mass media attention, even when they did not
seek it, because their discovery was so sensational. The mass media quickly responded to
the bizarre accounts of SRA and invited these SRA "experts" to discuss their discovery
on television talk-shows, on radio programs, and in newspaper and magazine articles
(Victor 1993a). The mass media used the dramatic claims of these "experts" to attract
audiences.
Some were also asked to be professional advisors to social movement organizations
concerned with sexual child abuse. Some of them even helped to lobby state legislatures
for new laws to protect children from criminal satanic cults and were successful in
obtaining laws in at least four states. The passage of special laws against SPA then
functioned to provide political legitimacy to SRA accusations. All of these activities set
the stage for a counter-reaction to claims about SRA.
When some interest groups expand their authority and power, they almost inevitably
encounter opposing interest groups. The SPA claims of "recovered memory" therapists
and child protection social workers aroused the concerns of many behavioral scientists, as
well as psychotherapists whose therapy was grounded in behavioral and biomedical
treatments. In response, these professionals organized themselves to influence
professional and public opinion, flaming the issue in a civil liberties context (possibly
false accusations and false memories), rather than one focused on the purported
symptoms of psychologically abnormal behavior (Beckett 1996).
Faulty Techniques for Investigating Deviant Behavior
Widespread false accusations of deviance are produced, when authorities rely upon faulty
techniques for distinguishing between true and false accusations. The key problem in
investigations of accusations of sexual child abuse, including SRA accusations, is that
reliable, scientific techniques have not yet been developed for distinguishing between
true and false accusations of child sexual abuse (Ofshe and Watters 1994; Pendergrast
1995; Wakefield and Underwager 1994; Yapko 1994). Three types of faulty investigative
techniques have been used to detect SPA: 1) those employing unreliable indicators, 2)
those resulting in false confessions and false accusations; and 3) those resulting in false
memories.
Unreliable Indicators
Faulty techniques in the investigation of sexual child abuse include highly ambiguous
check-lists of indicators used by child protection counselors to identify supposed
"symptoms" of sexual abuse in a child's personality (Nathan and Snedeker 1995).
Ambiguous lists of indicators are also used by psychotherapists to identify the supposed
long-range effects of sexual abuse in the behavior of their adult patients (Lindsay and
Read 1994; Loftus 1993). When authorities rely upon ambiguous indicators of deviance,
false accusations become inevitable. When authorities believe that their indicators are
reliable, an accusation by an authority figure easily leads to the presumption of guilt.
False Confessions and False Accusations
It was common for investigators in past moral panics to rely upon manipulative or
coercive interrogations to produce false confessions and false accusations. False
confessions coerced by torture were common during the European witch-hunts. However,
voluntary false confessions of witchcraft also occurred. Frightened women sometimes
voluntarily confessed to being witches and to having had intercourse with the Devil,
thereby condemning themselves to death (Cohn 1975; Jackson 1995; Sebald 1990). The
elaborately detailed SRA accounts from children can also be explained by certain
interrogation techniques (Nathan and Snedeker 1995). Interaction research has shown
how commonly used conversational patterns during interrogations between child
protection workers and children suspected of being sexually abused, can easily prompt a
child's false confirmation of abuse, due to the adult's authority and child's fear of
coercion. (Lloyd 1992).
False Memories
Survey research has found that those psychotherapists who claim to have had patients
with memories of SPA, are also those who are most likely to use "memory recovery"
techniques (Bottoms, Shaver, and Goodman 1996). Many cognitive psychologists suggest
that the "memory recovery" techniques employed by some therapists to uncover long
forgotten "repressed" memories of childhood sexual abuse, are the means by which false
memories are elicited (Lindsay and Read 1994; Loftus 1993). (Currently, there is heated
scientific debate about whether or not unconscious, "repressed" memories actually exist.)
The label "memory recovery" technique encompasses a very wide variety of questionable
techniques. These include: hypnosis, guided imagery and visualization exercises, streamof-consciousness daily journal writing, interpreting dreams as messages from the
unconscious, interpreting physical symptoms as "body memories", and interpreting
unconscious memories in a patient's drawings.
Memory recovery techniques easily create false memories resulting from therapist
suggestion effects (Lindsay and Read 1994). In the interaction between therapist and
patient, patients respond to direct or subtle suggestions from their therapists, by offering
accounts of SRA that they think will please their therapists. In their search for
explanations for their ambiguous anxieties, patients gradually come to believe that their
accounts of SPA are their own, genuine memories of past events. The crucial factor is the
effect of the therapist's authority in influencing a suggestible patient's perceptions about
ambiguous anxieties.
Symbolic Resonance with a Demonology
What is the mechanism whereby shared moral beliefs lead to the consensual validation of
particular claims and accusations of deviance? The concept of a master frame and
framing processes has been employed by sociologists to study how the ideologies of
social movements are linked to the cognitive schema of individual participants (Hunt,
Benford, and Snow 1994; Snow and Benford 1992; Snow, Rochford, Worden, and
Benford 1986). A master frame functions to organize selective attention to particular
problems, to attribute meaning to them, to articulate relevant events and experiences, to
explain the underlying causes and to propose solutions. A demonology cognitively
functions like a master frame for interpreting possible threats to people's shared moral
values. Claims about a threat from moral deviants are viewed through the perceptual lens
of culturally shared demonologies, especially when there is great ambiguity and little
manifest evidence to verify the claims.
Some anthropologists use the term "demonology" to refer to the core of a moral belief
system, that cognitively organizes that system of moral thought. A demonology is an
explanation of the ultimate power that threatens to destroy the moral order of a society.
Stevens (1991:21) defines a demonology as "an ideology of evil, a elaborate body of
belief about an evil force that is inexorably undermining society's most cherished values
and institutions". I use the term "symbolic resonance with a demonology", to indicate that
certain purported threats may be symbolically consistent, or resonant, with a demonology
and are more likely to be attributed credibility, whereas others are ignored and
disregarded because they are inconsistent. The cultural symbols of specific claims about
moral threats may be consistent (or resonant) with the demonologies held by specific
interest groups. This consistency contributes to their consensual validation of the reality
of those claims within groups(3).
In other words, people who share a moral belief system are likely to selectively define
certain purported moral threats, and not others, as ones to be taken seriously by society.
For example, in my research on the dissemination of satanic cult crime stories, I found
that fearful satanic cult rumors spread more rapidly through particular social networks in
which people shared moral beliefs. Curiously, specific social and communication
networks, and not others, functioned as selective conduits for the contemporary legend
stories, transmitting claims about threats and giving the claims consensual validation
(Victor 1993a). My research found that claims and accusations about SRA are
symbolically resonant with three different demonologies. These are 1) Christian
traditionalist, 2) social conservative and 3) feminist.
The Traditional Christian Demonology
People who accept the Christian traditionalist demonology regard the ultimate cause of
evil, as being due to the activities or workings of Satan. In this frame, Satan-worshippers
are seen as being actual agents of Satan, who are trying to spread immorality of all kinds,
in order to destroy the moral order of American society and hasten Satan's take over of
the world. The logic is that if good people are working for God, than evil people must be
working for Satan. Thus, satanic cult crime and SRA in particular are simply more
examples of the growing moral corruption in American society by "evil" people, who
reject God and true Christianity (Jenkins 1992; Jenkins and Maier-Katkin 1992; Lippert
1990; Victor 1994). An increasing number of psychotherapists identify themselves as
being "Christian therapists". (Goleman 1991).
The Social Conservative Demonology
People who hold the social conservative demonology regard "liberal permissiveness" as
the underlying cause of most social evils. In this frame, "ritualistic crime" is seen as
being a product of the hedonistic pursuit of pleasure and power and the increasing climate
of moral permissiveness. SRA is viewed as being one more manifestation of the moral
decline and corruption of American society, which has its source in the moral anarchy of
the 1960s. The social conservative demonology is most likely to be found among local
police who are self-proclaimed experts in investigating satanic cult crime (Hicks 1991).
The Feminist Demonology
There are different feminist ideologies. Some emphasize socio-economic inequality as
being the essential destructive force in society. However, other feminist ideologies hold a
demonology that regards male dominance in society (patriarchy) and its exploitation of
women and children as the essential underlying threat to the moral order of society.
Feminist psychotherapists and social workers, who hold the latter demonology, are those
most likely to attribute credibility to accusations of SRA (Nathan 1991; Nathan and
Snedeker 1995; Victor 1993a). They frame SRA accusations in terms of an analogy with
the victimization of women by male sexual aggression, as in cases of rape, incest and
sexual harassment. They see ritual child abuse as one more example of the hidden sexual
exploitation of women and children They regard skepticism about accusations of SRA, as
one more attempt by men to discredit women and children's testimony about their sexual
victimization by men. Yet, they ignore the fact that many of the people who have been
accused of SRA are mothers and female childcare workers.
PART III CROSS-NATIONAL CULTURAL DIFFUSION OF MORAL PANICS
Accusations, claims and rumors about satanic cult crime have surfaced in many countries
other than the United States since the mid-1980s. These countries include: Canada
(Lippert 1990), the United Kingdom (Jenkins 1992; La Fontaine 1994), Australia
(Guilliantt 1996; Richardson 1997), New Zealand (Hill and Barnett 1994), the
Netherlands (Netherlands Ministry of Justice 1994), Norway (Dyrendal 1998), and
Sweden. Some psychotherapists suggest that the vivid accounts of SRA, given by
children and adult psychotherapy patients in so many different nations, are evidence that
secret, criminal satanic cults exist around the world. They assume that it is impossible for
accounts of victimization that are so similar, to surface about the same time, in so many
distant countries. However, sociologists and anthropologists who are familiar with past
examples of cultural diffusion are likely to be quite skeptical of such an assumption.
One informative example took place in the twelfth century and involved accusations
remarkably similar to those of ritual child abuse. Accusations of ritual child murder made
against the Jews originated in twelfth century England, then traveled quickly across the
English Channel to northern France, and from there to Germany, Spain and the rest of
Christian Europe (Langmuir 1990). These false accusations spread across many different
societies, long before the existence of modern mass media. The accusations are known as
"the blood libel".
A study of cross-national cultural diffusion between social movements by McAdam and
Rucht (1993) offers useful theoretical principles for understanding the cultural diffusion
of collective behavior. McAdam and Rucht's study is particularly important, because
moral panics are spread by social movements, at least in part. In the case of SRA
accusations, Christian fundamentalist and feminist social movements played a central
role. McAdam and Rucht emphasize that the transmission of new ideas from one society
to another is more likely, the more similar the culture, social organization and social roles
in the recipient society. Particularly important for the transmission of new ideas between
social movements are similarities in language, ideologies and the occupations of activists.
Secondly, McAdam and Rucht suggest that there must exist social networks of contact
and channels of communication between people playing similar institutional roles in the
sending and recipient societies. More specifically, there must first be to be direct,
interpersonal contacts. These direct contacts activate selective attention to indirect
channels of communication, such as newspapers, magazines, television, radio, books, and
professional journals.
There are significant differences between the cross-national diffusion of new ideas used
by social movements and the diffusion of the causes of moral panics. The main content
transmitted between social movements involves movement tactics and the elaboration of
ideological theory. In contrast, the main content transmitted in moral panics involves: 1)
contemporary legend stories, claims, and accusations about a newly perceived threat from
deviants, and 2) new techniques for detecting deviants. Unfortunately, there is space in
this article only to outline my findings about the transmission of these contents about
satanic cult crime from the United States to other countries. My sources included
newspaper and magazine articles, as well as personal communications with scholars in
other countries (Victor 1993a).
Similarities between Transmitter and Adopters
One obvious similarity between the various societies in which satanic cult crime stories
have appeared is that of language. All are societies in which English is either the primary
language, or a common second language. The shared language facilitates rapid
communication, both through direct interpersonal contacts and through indirect channels
of communication.
A second similarity is the existence of sizable population subgroups that share ideologies
containing the same demonologies. More specifically, all the societies where SRA
accusations have surfaced contain relatively influential groups of fundamentalist
Protestant Christians, as well as feminists.
Another key similarity is the existence of similar occupations. In these societies, medical
and mental health professionals (especially psychotherapists and child protection
workers), fundamentalist clergymen, local police, and journalists have publicized claims
about satanic cult crime. Many of the claims-makers in these occupations hold either a
Christian traditionalist or feminist demonology. These professionals are able to make
personal contact with their American counterparts at international conferences in the
United States or in their home countries. Thereafter, they establish more personal social
networks and channels of communication.
A contrast with a culture where claims about satanic cult crime have not taken root is
useful. In France, SRA accusations being made in American society and nearby England
are regarded with ridicule, if they are known at all. Journalists and popular writers are
often quite critical of the foibles of American culture and often resistant to what they
consider to be cultural fads coming from America. In France, only 17% of the population
believe in the existence of the Devil compared with 65% in the U.S., according to opinion
polls (Gallup 1982:98). Fundamentalist Protestantism has no political significance.
French feminism, which centers its demonology upon a critique of the capitalist elite and
socioeconomic injustice, is ideologically quite different from Anglo-American feminism.
It is likely that cross-national, personal contacts between people in the same occupations,
such as medical doctors, psychotherapists and police, are relatively uncommon, due in
part to language and cultural differences.
Channels of Communication
Americans communicated claims about satanic cult crime to foreign nationals through
direct interpersonal contacts at professional conferences for therapists, social workers,
police, clergy, and journalists. These conferences were located in the United States, or in
the home countries, where American "experts" were often invited to share their new
ideas. Some of these conferences offered training sessions in how to identify satanic cult
crime, or symptoms of SRA (Mulhern 1994). (The spread of new ideas via this means is
familiar to many scholars.) It is through direct contacts such as these, that claims about
secret satanic cults spread very quickly from the U.S., to Canada and the United
Kingdom The indirect, non-relational channels which transmitted satanic cult crime
stories from the U.S. included elements of the mass media. Christian books about satanic
cult crime were quickly reprinted for Protestant fundamentalists in other countries, or
sold in English-language versions. American television talk shows presenting
testimonials by SRA survivors were broadcast in some English speaking countries. They
quickly produced their own homegrown products with similar content. American pop
culture magazines circulate in English-speaking countries. Foreign newspapers and
magazines reported stories about SRA, often citing American "experts" in the study of
SRA. The existence of these mass media presentations means that some patients in
psychotherapy and some children were familiar with SRA allegations, shortly after they
first surfaced in the United States.
More important than indirect mass media channels of communication were professional
channels. Foreign medical doctors and psychotherapists commonly subscribe to
specialized American professional journals, as a source of new ideas. The journal of the
International Society for the Study of Multiple Personality and Dissociation
(Dissociation) offered several early articles identifying SRA as a real and serious concern
(Hill and Goodwin 1989). In addition, American-made lists of symptoms of SRA and
mimeographed conference papers about SRA written by American "experts" circulated
widely in Europe (Kaye and Klein 1987). These were then cited as authoritative sources
about SRA, in the professional papers of English-speaking, European mental health
specialists. As a result, Europeans were quick to apply the very same faulty investigative
techniques that contributed to causing the American moral panic over SRA.
In conclusion, the cross-national diffusion of claims, accusations and rumors about
deviance which cause moral panics, occurs through similar social processes as those
which account for their diffusion within a heterogeneous, industrial society. Claims about
a threat from newly perceived deviance travel faster through specific social networks and
communication channels, where they are attributed credibility by authorities and by a
shared demonology. The key phenomena is differential social and communication
networks.
SUMMARY
This article developed a theory of moral panics and illustrated the theory with research
about the moral panic over ritual child abuse by satanic cults. The theory is designed to
explain forms of collective behavior previously labeled witchhunts, persecutions, panics,
scares, and purges. It is drawn from symbolic interactionist theory and a social
constructionist perspective on deviance perspective.
A moral panic can be defined as a societal response to beliefs about a threat from newly
perceived moral deviants. A moral panic has five distinguishing characteristics. First, the
societal reaction shows volatility in the form of a sudden eruption and subsiding of
concern about the threat. Second, the concern about the threat is widespread in a society.
Third, the purported deviants are regarded as a threat to the basic moral values of the
society. Fourth, there is consensus in significant segments of the population that the
threat is real. Fifth, concern about the threat is disproportional to empirical measures of
harm from the purported deviants. The possible causes of moral panics can be analyzed
by employing three models of moral panics: 1) a grass roots model, 2) an elite-engineered
model, and 3) an interest group model
The moral panic over satanic ritual abuse is best understood through use of the interest
group model. The underlying causes of a moral panic promoted by interest groups
include the following four social conditions. First, there is a widespread belief in the
existence of a threat from new forms of deviance, spread by contemporary legend rumors
and the mass media. Social control authorities then legitimize the belief. Second, a new
form of authority is expanding its jurisdiction over the social control of deviance. Third,
the new authorities employ faulty techniques for investigating deviance that cannot
adequately distinguish between true and false accusations of deviance. Fourth, there
exists a symbolic consistency (resonance) between the purported threat and a widely held
demonology, which functions as a cognitive frame about the ultimate nature of "evil".
These four social conditions operate simultaneously to socially construct definitions of
deviance. The definitions of deviance constructed by a moral panic take the form of
stereotypes of actual deviants, or even imaginary deviants (as is the case of satanic cult
criminals). The key social processes influencing belief in a threat from moral deviants
within interest groups are: 1) legitimization of belief by authority and 2) the consensual
validation of reality.
The cross-national diffusion of the causes of moral panics involves: 1) the
communication of claims, rumors and accusations about the newly perceived threat from
moral deviants and 2) the communication of faulty techniques for detecting the deviants.
Cross-national communication requires certain similarities between transmitters in one
society and adopters in the receiving society; particularly in language, culturally inherited
demonology, and occupational roles. The cross-national diffusion of the conditions that
cause moral panics also requires specific channels of communication. Initially, there must
be direct interpersonal contacts. That encourages selective attention to indirect channels
of communication, via the mass media and special interest publications. Requirements for
the cross-national diffusion of a moral panic are essentially similar to those that account
for the internal diffusion within a society of claims, rumors and accusations of deviance:
differential social and communication networks.
NOTES
1. Moral panics are a product of socio-political processes and not psychological
characteristics of individuals, such as suggestibility, a disposition to fantasize, delusions,
or personal anxieties. The implications of this concept sharply differ from psychiatric
concepts, such as "mass hysteria" or "emotional contagion". Psychiatric concepts focus
upon emotionality (labeled as "irrational"). In contrast, the concept of moral panic
focuses upon cognition and communication behavior. A sociological analysis of the mass
adoption of the sick role in outbreaks of unusual collective behavior, often labeled "mass
psychogenic illness", can be found in Bartholomew (1994) and Gehlen (1977). Also, see
Bartholomew (1990) and Stallings (1994) for recent critiques of the mass hysteria and
emotional contagion concepts.
2. Criticism of social constructionism has emphasized that this perspective ignores the
"objective" realities of deviant behavior, such as the empirically verifiable physical,
psychological and interpersonal harms that may result from certain behaviors (Miller and
Holstein 1993). The criticism suggests that the social constructionist perspective regards
claims-making about deviance, as if it comes into existence entirely unrelated to any
objective empirical measures of harm done by deviant behavior in a society. In response,
social constructionists argue that a "contextual" form of social constructionist research
does relate the claims defining deviance to empirical measures of those claims (Best
1993). My analysis of SRA accusations follows the contextual form of social
constructionist
3. I don't wish to deny that many people's critical thinking ability can lead them to be
personally skeptical about claims that are consistent with their moral beliefs. However, it
is quite another matter for individuals to challenge the conformity pressures that enforce
consensual beliefs within their own social networks.
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Jeffrey S. Victor is Professor of Sociology at State University of New York, Jamestown
Community College. He received his Ph.D. from SUNY at Buffalo in 1974. His books
include Human Sexuality: A Social Psychological Approach, and Satanic Panic: The
Creation of a Contemporary Legend, which received the H. L. Mencken Book Award for
1993.